NPC proposes N532.7b for 2023 digital census

The National Population Commission (NPC) on Wednesday declared that N532.7 billion will be needed to conduct the national census in April 2023.

Chairman of the Commission, Isa Kwarra made the disclosure to members of the Senate Committee on National Population and Identity Management during the 2023 budget defence session in Abuja.

The N532.7 billion according to the NPC boss is purely a proposal for the conduct of the 2023 census which would be digitally done.

He said that NPC is ready to rewrite the history of the census in Nigeria by making the 2023 one not only accurate, credible, and reliable but acceptable to all Nigerians.

Read also: NPC eyes digitalisation, local content for 2023 census

The NPC chairman said the proposed sum for the conduct of the 2023 census covers post enumeration survey and that the exercise would be a great departure from the past in terms of keying into the issue of climate change.

Kwarra said an envelope of N1.05 billion was earmarked for capital expenditure, N655 million for overhead and N8.6 billion for personnel in the 2023 budgetary proposal.

“Aside from the N10 billion budgetary proposal for the 2023 fiscal year earmarked for NPC, the sum of N532. 7 billion is estimated for the conduct of 2023 census.

For the 2022 fiscal year, the NPC boss said a total of N206.85 billion was appropriated for the commission which N107.7 billion was earmarked for capital expenditure, N615 million for overhead and N7.8 billion for personnel cost.

However, the Chairman of the Committee, Sahabi Ya’u told the NPC boss to furnish the Committee with details of projects executed with the 2022 appropriation line by line and those proposed for the 2023 fiscal year.